Georgia Democrats campaigning on Ferguson tragedy

Brit Hume on the controversial campaign strategy

This is a rush transcript from "The Kelly File," October 21, 2014. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MEGYN KELLY, HOST: Ferguson, Missouri, erupted this summer after 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer. Michael Brown was black, the police officer is white.

Tonight, one Democratic group is using that tragedy as part of the get out the vote campaign. This is a page from the controversial flyer distributed by the Democratic Party of Georgia. Another page shows two children with signs that read "Don't Shoot," a phrase that became a rallying cry of protesters in Ferguson. And it goes on from there.

Brit Hume is our Fox News senior political analyst.

Brit, and so, it's a clear reference to if you don't get out and vote in Georgia, you're going to -- you're at risk of winding up just like Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the Democratic Party of Georgia stands by that. We reached out to them, and they said, look, "This is the fight for the right to vote and for every vote to be counted as part of our state's history." And they say, "Our democracy is stronger when more people participate and we've see what happens to places like Ferguson when voices are silenced."

BRIT HUME, FOX NEWS SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: That's ridiculous, and it's a very crude piece of literature, very crude. I can't imagine it will work, but you can see what's happening here, Megyn. The Democratic Party has got nearly everything lined up against it in this upcoming election. And the one thing many believe that could save it is another turnout miracle of the kind that the Democratic Party was able to mast and the Obama campaign was table to put together for the 2014 election. That's why you hear the president now as you illustrated with the sound bite you played earlier, talking about how he really isn't in this election, his policies are in this election, these people have supported him. He's trying to personalize the election to appeal to the people who turned out in such numbers for him in 2012 so that they will do the same this time.

And people have said, well, it was stupid for him to say that. Well, it might turn out to have been stupid, but it wasn't done in my opinion inadvertently. I heard people say, "Well, you know, it's always all about him. That's his vanity." I don't think it was his vanity. I think it was a calculated move. And I think it's a sign, to some extent, of desperation. But this is where we are now.

KELLY: How much of this has to do with this memo by Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher who wrote a memo dated October 1st detailed in The New York Times stressing the importance of African-American turnout in these midterms, and saying that the "surge of African-American voters who came out in 2008 and 2012 was critical" and that "if it doesn't happen again, this could be a disaster" for the Democrats.

HUME: I think that memo is right on target, and I think that was, you know, that was a smart memo. And I think it's true. I think that it does show a certain contempt in a sense for African-Americans because you notice that the message on that flyer was not vote for X or vote for Y or even vote Democratic. It was simply vote. And the Democrats put out literature like that safe in the knowledge, they believe, that if these African-American voters who were appealed to by this sort of stuff will vote, they'll almost certainly vote Democratic. And there you are. That's what they're trying to do. They're trying to hype or pump up the turnout among African-Americans and other minorities because they desperately need that to try to save their party's stand in the Senate, their position in the Senate.

KELLY: This Cornell Belcher's memo said, if the black vote does not turn out, he predicts "crushing Democratic losses across the country" saying that the Democratic Party "needs to get the black voters to the polls, in particular, in Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina and possibly Arkansas." This flyer came out in Georgia.

And, you know, we've seen candidate after candidate, Brit, trying to distance themselves from President Obama, including in these states, to the point where Al Sharpton -- the president was speaking with Al Sharpton on his radio show, and he asked him about these attempts to distance himself from Barack Obama, and here's how the president responded.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP, MSNBC)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: It is difficult for them to have me in the state because the Republicans will use that to try to fan Republican turnout. The bottom line is though, these are all folks who vote with me, they have supported my agenda in Congress.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

KELLY: And so, you know, how much of that -- I mean, that's true, isn't it?

HUME: Yes. It is true. It is true. And if -- look, look at the situation in Georgia. You're trying to get African-Americans in an off-year election in which turnout is typically low and interest is especially low and it seems especially so in this particular one to turn out to vote for some white woman of a privileged background for the Senate.

So, you're not going to be able to do that by saying, "Look at this nice white lady here" -- this is the way the Democrats look at it. So, they're better off if they say, you know, "If you don't vote, you're going to have Ferguson here."

KELLY: You're going to get shot down in the street.

HUME: Or the president saying, "These people are all about me and I'm all about them and we're joined together by our united position and all these issues and they voted with me," and the rest of it. In other words, "Vote for them, they help me."

KELLY: Brit, before I let you go, Republicans taking the Senate? And if so, how many seats?

HUME: I can't -- wouldn't guess at the number. But I think it's -- the great likelihood is that they will, but I don't think it's -- that they will take the Senate -- I don't think it's guaranteed, though. The turnout miracle is the thing that could save the Democrats. I think it's a longshot, but it could happen.

KELLY: Uh-mm. And they know how to work that machine. Brit, great to see you.

HUME: You bet. Thank you, Megyn.

Content and Programming Copyright 2014 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2014 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.